Satanists jailed over ritual killing

A couple who killed a friend by stabbing him 66 times in a Satanic ritual were jailed today in a case that has fascinated Germany with bizarre details of devil worship and vampirism.

Daniel Ruda, a 26-year-old former car parts salesman, and his 23-year-old wife Manuela had confessed to the killing in their apartment, surrounded by human skulls, cemetery lights, scalpels and incense.

They have shown no remorse, saying the devil ordered them to send him a human sacrifice because he wanted a "court jester".

A judge in the western town of Bochum sentenced Daniel to 15 years and Manuela 13 years in a psychiatric ward.

The court heard how Manuela acquired a taste for vampirism during a visit to London, where she attended "bite parties" at which people voluntarily had blood sucked from their veins.

Throughout the case, the couple shown defiant behaviour in court, making rude gestures, rolling their eyes maniacally and sticking their tongues out.

Manuela, a former high school student who said she drifted into the "Gothic" scene after the devil contacted her when she was 14, slept in a coffin in their apartment.

She met Daniel after responding to his advertisement in a heavy metal magazine that read: "Pitch black vampire seeks princess of darkness who hates everything and everyone."

The dead man, a 33-year-old colleague of Daniel Ruda's, was found in the couple's apartment covered in knife wounds and with a scalpel protruding from his stomach. A pentagram, the sign of the Devil, had been carved into his chest.

The couple spent a week on the run after the murder last July, driving around Germany and attempting suicide several times.

They were arrested after being spotted at a petrol station in Jena.

During that week Daniel had bought a chainsaw, saying he did not want to be empty-handed when the Devil called again.

The court heard during the trial how the two had launched themselves into a world of devil worship, inciting each other to commit violence.

Daniel said he had merely been a tool of the devil. "If you run someone over with a car, you don't prosecute the car," he said at one point.